Device that manages power provided to an object sensor

ABSTRACT

A hand-held device with a sensor for providing a signal indicative of a position of the hand-held device relative to an object surface enables power to the sensor at a first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is stationary and adjacent relative to the object surface, enables power to the sensor at a second time interval shorter than the first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is moving and adjacent relative to the object surface, and enables power to the sensor at a third time interval when the hand-held device is determined to be in a position that is removed relative to the object surface.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/113,301, filed on Aug. 27, 2018, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/349,668, filed on Nov. 11, 2016, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/019,623, filed on Feb. 9, 2016, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/616,044, filed on Feb. 6, 2015, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/189,030, filed on Feb. 25, 2014, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/097,212, filed on Apr. 29, 2011, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/901,116, filed on Oct. 8, 2010, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/783,679, filed on May 20, 2010, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 11/657,345, filed on Jan. 24, 2007, whichapplication claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/681,796, filed Oct. 8, 2003, which applicationsare hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to wireless devices and, moreparticularly, relates to a wireless device, such as a mouse havingremote control capabilities by way of example, having a device managedinput interface.

Wireless mice are well known in the art as a means for providing cursormanipulation and selection input to personal computers. However, aspersonal computer (“PC”) functionality expands into home entertainmentapplications, such as exemplified by PCs using Microsoft's Windows MediaCenter Edition software, a need has also developed for the provision ofremote control functionality in conjunction with personal computers.FIG. 1 illustrates such a Media Center Edition PC product 100 (priorart) which is supplied with both a mouse 102 and a remote control 104.Although not illustrated in FIG. 1, it is anticipated that such PCs willbe interfaced to home entertainment appliances such as televisions,satellite set top boxes, etc., to eventually become an integral part ofan overall home entertainment system. In such cases universal remotecontrol functionality, i.e. the ability to control multiple consumerentertainment appliances of different types and different manufactures,will also be a desirable feature in a remote control supplied with sucha PC.

As a result of this convergence of PC and home entertainment equipment aneed thus exists for a hand-held user input device which combines thecontrol functionalities required for both PCs and home entertainmentappliances. Unfortunately, the requirements for each of these classes ofdevice are different. Control of a PC is best effected via a “mouse”used to manipulate a cursor and make selections. Mouse-generated x-ypositioning input is, however, not easily adapted to operation ofconventional entertainment equipment, for which a button-oriented remotecontrol is better suited. Furthermore, many wireless mice operate usingRF transmission to avoid line-of-sight issues when operated from acluttered surface, in contrast to most entertainment equipment remotecontrols which are intended to be picked up and pointed at thecontrolled apparatus, and thus generally use IR as a transmissionmedium.

Accordingly, a need exists for an improved device having integratedmouse and remote control capabilities which thus combines the controlfunctionalities required for both PCs and home entertainment appliances.

SUMMARY

A hand-held device having a device managed input interface is described.To manage the input interface of the device, the device generallyobtains from a sensor associated with the device a value representativeof a position of the held device relative to an object surface. Theinvention then uses the value obtained from the sensor to cause thehand-held device to automatically transition from a first state in whichthe input interface is enabled to a second state in which at least aportion of the input interface is inhibited.

A hand-held device that manages power provided to a sensor thatgenerates a signal indicative of a position of the hand-held devicerelative to an object surface is also described. The hand-held deviceenables power to the sensor at a first time interval when the hand-helddevice is indicated to be in a position that is stationary and adjacentrelative to the object surface, enables power to the sensor at a secondtime interval shorter than the first time interval when the hand-helddevice is indicated to be in a position that is moving and adjacentrelative to the object surface, and enables power to the sensor at athird time interval when the hand-held device is determined to be in aposition that is removed relative to the object surface.

While described in the context of an integrated mouse and remotecontrol, the hand-held device is not to be so limited. Rather, it willbe appreciated that the concepts described hereinafter may be applicableto any type of device.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the subject controlling device will be obtainedfrom the following detailed description and accompanying drawings whichset forth an illustrative embodiment which is indicative of the variousways in which the principles thereof may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A controlling device having integrated mouse and remote controlcapabilities is hereinafter described with reference to examples shownin the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example prior art system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary control environment including anexemplary controlling device having integrated mouse and remote controlcapabilities;

FIG. 3 illustrates the various control and transmission modes of theexemplary control device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram view of various components of theexemplary control device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method for detecting and reconfiguringthe exemplary control device of FIG. 2 for mouse or remote controlfunctionality; and

FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrates an alternative embodiment of a controldevice having integrated mouse and remote control capabilities.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the figures, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements, there is illustrated a control device 200 havingintegrated mouse and remote control capabilities. As will be appreciatedfrom the following description, the control device 200 is generallyconfigured to be used easily for traditional mouse-like operation, whileremote control functionality is effected by one or more of variousbuttons, toggles, switches, touch panels, and the like configured on thecontrol device. Additionally, one or more buttons on the control devicemay be adapted for use in both mouse and remote control device modes. Inorder to detect changes in device mode (for operation as a mouse oroperation as a remote control) and also to effect mouse basedoperations, the control device includes an optical sensor, typically onthe underside of control device 200.

The construction and operation of optical mice, i.e., those which sensemovement by analyzing minute variations in the surface upon which theyare resting, is well understood in the art. For example, “ADNS-2030 LowPower Optical Mouse Sensor Data Sheet,” document 5988-8421EN, Mar. 12,2003, published by Agilent Technologies Inc., describes the electricaland mechanical requirements and operation of such an optical motionsensor while “USB Wireless Optical Mouse and Multimedia KeyboardSolution: Designer Reference Manual,” document DRM042/D Rev 0, June2003, published by Motorola Inc., describes the design of a completewireless mouse system using the above referenced Agilent optical sensor.For the sake of brevity, only those details regarding construction andoperation of the underlying optical mouse system which are necessary tofully elucidate the current invention will be described herein. A readerdesirous of additional background information may refer to the abovereferenced documents which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

With reference now to FIG. 2, a control device 200 is illustrated ascapable of commanding operation of a television 202 and a set top box204 via wireless (e.g., IR) transmissions 206 while also able to be usedas a mouse communicating with a PC 208 via wireless (e.g., RF)transmissions 210. While the exemplary control device 200 is shown anddescribed as using IR transmissions for remote control functionality andRF transmissions for mouse functionality, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that both wireless mice and remote controls areeasily configured for operation using either IR and/or RF transmissions.Accordingly, the subject control device contemplates the use of IRand/or RF transmissions to effectuate communications. Still further, itis contemplated that the described controlling device may be modified toprovide a single device that allows either or both mouse and remotecontrol commands to be transmitted via wired connections to theappropriate devices to be controlled.

Turning now to FIG. 3, when the exemplary control device 200 is restingon a surface 212 such as a mouse pad, tabletop, users leg, etc., itfunctions as a mouse transmitting data 210 (e.g., representative of x-ymovements 320 of the controlling device 200, scroll wheel 307 activity,and left/right button 306 clicks) to the associated PC 208. However,employing methods that will be described in further detail hereafter,the functionality of the exemplary control device 100 may automaticallyswitch from that associated with a mouse to that associated with aremote control when the exemplary control device 200 senses that it hasbeen lifted 322 off the surface 212. In this case, activation of thescroll wheel 307, buttons 306, etc. results in the transmission of data206 (e.g., to command appliance functions such as TV volume, mute andpower, etc.) to one or more of the associated entertainment appliances202, 204. Furthermore, the upper case of the control device 200 may alsoincorporate additional remote control specific buttons (e.g., numberkeys, macro keys, mode keys, etc. as described in commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 4,959,810 which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety) and/or a display (e.g., a segmented EL display panel andassociated touch sensitive overlay 302 of the general type described incommonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/410,103 entitled “Remote Control with Local, Screen Guided, Setup”which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). Whenoperating in the mouse mode, the remote control specific buttons and/orEL panel 302, if any, are preferably not energized and, as such, thepanel 302 would remain dark as illustrated in FIG. 3. When operating inthe remote control mode, however, the buttons and/or EL display paneland associated touch sensitive surface 302 may be activated to provideadditional remote control key functionality as described in the abovereferenced '103 application. While the display 302 having touch screencontrol keys is illustrated as being provided to an outer surface of thecontrolling device 200, it will be appreciated that a display 302 and/orfurther remote control buttons may be disposed behind a panel that ishingedly attached, for example, to the outer surface of the controllingdevice 200.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated in bock diagram form thehardware architecture of an exemplary control device 200. This hardwarearchitecture may include, as needed for a particular application, aprocessor 400 coupled to one or more memory devices (such as a ROMmemory 402, a RAM memory 404, and a non-volatile memory 406), a keymatrix 408 (e.g., physical buttons 306, a touch sensitive panel 302.2,or a combination thereof), an internal clock and timer 410, transmissioncircuits (e.g., IR 412 and/or RF 414), a means to provide visualfeedback to the consumer (e.g, LED 416 and/or EL panel controller 418and associated EL display 302.1, or the like), means to provide audiofeedback to the user (e.g., a speaker—not illustrated), and a powersupply (not illustrated). Also coupled to processor 400 may be a scrollwheel encoder 420 which may be of the optical or mechanical type, bothwell known in the art, and an optical mouse sensor subsystem 422. Whilethe optical mouse sensor 422 may be strictly regarded as amicrocontroller in its own right, since a typical sensor such as theexemplary Agilent ADNS-2030 includes a digital signal processor (“DSP”),memory, and self-contained programming with which to process theincoming image frames, for clarity in this description it will betreated simply as a component module of the system. When enabled by theprocessor 400, the optical mouse sensor subsystem 422 illuminates thesurface 212 on which the mouse is resting via LED 424, capturingsequential images of surface features (frames) via lens 426 and lightsensor 428 and performing a mathematical analysis of the differencesbetween successive frames in order to determine direction and magnitudeof movement, which is reported back to processor 400 for onwardtransmission to PC 208 via RF transmitter 414. As will become apparenthereafter, information reported back by the optical mouse sensor 422 mayalso be useful in determining whether mouse 200 is in contact withsurface 212 or has been lifted away.

As will be understood by those of skill in the art, the memory device(s)402, 404 and/or 406 include executable instructions that are intended tobe executed by the processor 400 to control the operation of the controldevice 200. In this manner, the processor 400 may be programmed tocontrol the various electronic components within the control device 200,e.g., to monitor and manage the power supply to the components, todecode key presses and cause the transmission of command signals toentertainment appliances, to read and transmit mouse and scroll wheelpositioning information to a PC, to operate user feedback means such asLEDs and/or displays, etc. In addition, the non-volatile memory 406, forexample, an EEPROM or the like, may store setup data and parameters asnecessary such that data is not required to be reloaded after batterychanges. It is to be additionally understood that the memory devices maytake the form of any type of readable media, such as, for example, aSmart Card, memory stick, a chip, a hard disk, a magnetic disk, and/oran optical disk. Still further, it will be appreciated that some or allof the illustrated memory devices may be physically incorporated withinthe same IC chip as the microprocessor 400 (a so called“microcontroller”) and, as such, they are shown separately in FIG. 4only for the sake of clarity.

To cause the control device 200 to perform an action, the control device200 is adapted to be responsive to events, such as a sensed consumerinteraction with the key matrix 408, scroll wheel 307, etc., ordetection of mouse movement by optical mouse sensor 422. In thisconnection, optical mouse sensor 422 is enabled on a periodic basis asfurther described below in conjunction with FIG. 5. In response to anevent, appropriate instructions and/or data within the memory devicesare executed and/or accessed. For example, when a command key isactivated on the control device 200 while it is operating in the remotecontrol mode (i.e., in a position lifted away from surface 212), thecontrol device 200 may retrieve a code data value corresponding to theactivated command key from a memory device and access instructions totransmit the retrieved code data value to a device in a formatrecognizable by the device. It will be appreciated that the instructionswithin the memory devices can be used not only to cause the transmissionof command codes and/or data to the devices but also to perform localoperations. While not limiting, local operations that may be performedby control device 200 when in the universal remote control mode includesetting up the remote control to operate specific items of equipment(e.g., a “Sony” brand TV set or a “Philips” brand set top box), favoritechannel setup, macro button setup, etc. Since examples of set up andlocal operations can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,810 “UniversalRemote Control Device,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,313 “Universal RemoteControl System,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,256 “Favorite Key Command andChained Macro Command in a Remote Control,” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,067“Universal remote control with macro command capabilities” all of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, this will not bediscussed in greater detail herein, except to point out that one suchlocal operation may specifically be provided to allow the user of themouse/universal remote control combination to designate which particularremote control functions are to be made available on the mouse hardbuttons and scroll wheel, for example, selecting between configurationssuch as volume up/down or channel up/down on scroll wheel, mute, poweror previous channel on a hard button, etc. Furthermore, in thisexemplary remote control 200, the EL panel 302.1 may be constructed asdescribed in pending PCT patent application WO 00/72638, which isassigned to Cambridge Consultants Ltd. and which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety, to allow various parts of the display tobe independently illuminated under control of the microprocessor 400 andEL display controller interface 418. The advantage of such aconstruction is that different elements may be illuminated at differenttimes, for example depending on the activity currently being performedby the user.

When operating in the mouse mode (e.g., while in sensed contact withsurface 212) the control device 200 may disable the EL display 302.1 andassociated portion 302.2 of key matrix 408, while continuing to monitoronly the portion 306 of the key matrix associated with the mousebuttons, as well as the input from the scroll wheel encoder 420 and theperiodically-enabled optical mouse sensor 422. It will be appreciatedthat in cases where the scroll wheel mechanism is of the opticallyencoded type, as a power conservation measure it may also beperiodically enabled in conjunction with or separately from the opticalmouse sensor. Further, when operating in the mouse mode, various powermanagement strategies may be practiced by the programming of processor400 with regard to the periodic activation of the optical mouse sensorsubsystem, as will be described in greater detail hereafter inconjunction with FIG. 5.

It should also be noted that while the embodiment illustratedincorporates both the wireless mouse and universal remote controltransmission management functions into a single microcontroller 400,other implementations using separate microcontrollers for eachoperational mode are also possible.

Turning now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated in further detail theincorporation of a test for lift up and the automatic switching back andforth between remote control functionality and mouse functionality intoan exemplary power management sequencing algorithm for a wireless mouseas can be found in the before mentioned Motorola Designer ReferenceManual. In this regard, many microcontrollers designed for embeddedapplications, such as for example some members of the Motorola 68HC08 orMicrochip PIC families, include an ability to operate in a low powerquiescent mode wherein all operations are suspended except for a singletimer which functions to reawaken the main processor after apredetermined period. In this manner, a battery powered device such as awireless mouse may conserve battery life by shutting itself down duringperiods of inactivity, while still accommodating the requirement toreawaken at intervals to briefly check for resumption of activity.

When stationary and resting on surface 212, the control device isnormally in state 500. In this state, processor 400 spends most of itstime in a quiescent mode as described above, waking at relatively longintervals and briefly enabling power to the optical mouse sensor 422(and scroll wheel encoder 420 if required) in order to check for anyactivity. As is well known in the art, internal circuitry within theprocessor may also immediately generate a wakeup condition in responseto key matrix activity, e.g., a mouse button 306 (scroll wheelimplementations and/or lift-up detectors using mechanical contacts, tiltswitch, etc. may also be supported via this method.) If the controldevice 200 detects that it has been lifted off the surface 212, itautomatically switches to remote control functionality, entering state530. If, on the other hand, the control device 200 detects mouseactivity, it enters either state 510 or 520 depending on the type, x-ymotion or button press. In state 510, entered into upon detection of x-ymovement, the optical mouse sensor is interrogated continuously and anymotion reported to the PC. In state 520, entered into as a result ofbutton press or scroll wheel activity, the sensor is interrogatedintermittently, but on a more frequent basis than in state 500, on thepresumption that button or scroll activity may be a precursor to x-ymotion. If mouse use continues, the control device 200 may transitionback and forth between states 510 and 520 as appropriate. If no activityis detected for a relatively long period of time, the control devicewill return to idle state 500. If at any time the control device 200detects it has been lifted off surface 212, it automatically transitionsto the remote control operational state 530. On entering into state 530,the control device 200 may illuminate the EL panel (if so equipped),enable buttons or touch panel keys 302.2 (it being understood thatduring mouse mode operation, only the mouse button portion 306 of theoverall key matrix 408 may have been enabled), and enter into alow-power state waiting for a key press. Whenever a key is pressed (itbeing understood that in this context the term “key press” includesscroll wheel activity—e.g., the scroll wheel may be tied to volumecontrol functionality) the control device transmits 540 the appropriateremote appliance control command and returns to state 530. Additionally,using the same timer mechanisms as described earlier, the control device200 may periodically awaken and briefly transition to state 550 whereinthe optical mouse sensor 422 is enabled in order to verify that thecontrol device 200 is still lifted off surface 212. If it is determinedthat the control device 200 has been returned to the surface 212, it mayautomatically return to mouse functionality at state 520. State 550 mayalso incorporate an additional timing test (not illustrated) to shutdown EL panel illumination after a certain amount of time has elapsedwith no button activity.

By way of further example, a test for lift up may be performed asfollows: The before mentioned Agilent ADNS-2030 may be used as theoptical mouse sensor 422. The ADNS-2030 provides a readable parameterSQUAL (“Surface QUALity”) which is a measure of the number of distinctfeatures visible to sensor 428 in the current field of view. SQUAL isreported in the form of a one-byte number between 0 and 255, and isequal or close to zero if there is no surface below the sensor withinthe focal plane of lens 426. In general, the focal depth of the opticalsystems used in mouse applications is of the order of a few millimeters,so it will be appreciated that whenever the mouse is lifted off thesurface 212 on which it rests, the reported SQUAL value will rapidlyreduce to near zero. By testing the SQUAL value on a regular basis, themicrocontroller 400 programming is thus able to determine if the controldevice 200 has been picked up from and/or replaced onto surface 212, andswitch back and forth between remote control and mouse functionalityaccordingly.

It will be appreciated that the above described method is not intendedto be limiting. Many other detection methods are possible. For example,other brands or models of optical mouse sensor may use differenttechniques for detecting and/or reporting the absence of a surface belowthe mouse, or may not report it at all. In this latter case, alternativesensing means such as user activated buttons or switches, tilt basedswitches, mechanical contacts on the underside of the mouse body,gyroscopic sensors, etc., may be provided as a substitute sensingmechanism. Such alternative sensing mechanisms may in some cases (e.g.,gyroscopic motion and direction based sensors) also be configured toprovide the mouse and/or additional remote control capabilities. Thesealternative approaches may also be appropriate for mouse sensorimplementations using electromechanical motion sensing methods and thuslacking inherent “lift up” detection ability.

FIG. 6 illustrates an further embodiment of a control device 200,wherein the control device 200 operates in a manner similar to thatdescribed above except that it additionally includes an IR wirelesspointer subsystem constructed in accordance with the teachings of U.S.Pat. No. 5,963,145 “System for Providing Wireless Pointer Control” andU.S. Pat. No. 6,271,831 “Wireless Control and Pointer System,” both oflike assignee and both incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety. In general, these subsystems provide for user control of forexample, a cursor, via the motion of a hand held pointing devicetransmitting an IR beacon signal 606, which signal is received andanalyzed by a base station 600, 604 and used to determine orientationand movement of the control device 200 relative to the base station. Forthe sake of brevity herein, the interested reader is referred to theabove referenced U.S. patents for more complete details regarding thesystems and methods by which this is accomplished. In the instantembodiment, when the control device 200 is resting on surface 212 asillustrated in FIG. 6a , it operates as a mouse device in the mannerpreviously described, communicating mouse data to PC 208 via, forexample, RF transmissions 210. In this case, the receiver 600, 602 forRF signals 210 is integral with the base station used to receive the IRbeacon signals mentioned above, and shares a common interface 610 to PC208. When the control device 200 is lifted from surface 212, asillustrated in FIG. 6b , it automatically switches to remote controlfunctionality in the manner previously described. However in thisembodiment, immediately prior to switching into remote control mode themouse/universal remote control combination transmits a final RFnotification to base unit 600, which causes the base unit to activateits beacon receiver 604 and enable transfer of beacon-derived movementdata to the PC via interface 610. As will be appreciated by those ofskill in the art, this beacon-derived movement data may be normalized bythe internal logic of the base unit such that the switch from opticalmouse sensor data to IR beacon-derived data is transparent to the PCmouse decoding software, resulting in a seamless transition from onemethod to the other. Similarly, when the control device is replaced onsurface 212, a transmission may be initiated to return the base unit 600to mouse operation. While in the remote control mode, the user of such adevice may thus be provided with a button which serves to activate thecursor control beacon, making is possible to continue to manipulate thecursor on the PC screen while also controlling an entertainmentappliance(s) 202. While specifically described in terms of thetechnology disclosed in the above referenced U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,963,145and 6,271,831, it will be appreciated that other free space gestureand/or pointing data generation means may also be used in a similarmanner, for example accelerometers, tilt switches, etc.

While various embodiments of a system and method for constructing acontrol device having integrated mouse and remote control functionalityhave been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilledin the art that various modifications and alternatives to those detailscould be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure.Additionally, while described in the context of functional modules andillustrated using block diagram format, it is to be understood that,unless otherwise stated to the contrary, one or more of the describedfunctions and/or features may be integrated in a single physical deviceand/or a software module in a software product, or one or more functionsand/or features may be implemented in separate physical devices orsoftware modules.

It will also be appreciated that a detailed discussion of the actualimplementation of each module is not necessary for an enablingunderstanding of the invention. Rather, the actual implementation ofsuch modules would be well within the routine skill of a programmer andsystem engineer, given the disclosure herein of the system attributes,functionality, and inter-relationship of the various functional modulesin the system. For example, in applications which require only simple orno universal remote control functionality, the touch sensitive ELpanel-based keypad portion may be omitted and basic remote controlfunctionality supplied only by way of physical buttons and the scrollwheel (if provided for standard mouse operation); transmission of mousedata to a PC may utilize methods other than RF, e.g. IR or a hard-wiredconnection such as USB, serial RS232, or PS2; transmission of commandsto consumer appliances may utilize methods other than IR, e.g. directRF, wireless networking such as IEEE 802.11 or Bluetooth, acoustic; etc.Furthermore, the consumer appliances controlled may not be limited toentertainment devices but may also include thermostats, lighting,drapes, domestic appliances, alarms, irrigation systems, and the like,as well as communication systems, home gateways, and other computing andhome automation devices which may become part of or associated with theuser's overall media center home configuration. Therefore, a personskilled in the art, applying ordinary skill, will be able to practicethe invention set forth in the claims without undue experimentation. Itwill be additionally appreciated that the particular concepts disclosedare meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope ofthe invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appendedclaims and any equivalents thereof.

All documents cited within this application for patent are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hand-held device, comprising: a processingdevice; a plurality of input receiving elements coupled to theprocessing device; a first wireless transmission device coupled to theprocessing device; a second wireless transmission device, different thanthe first wireless transmission device, coupled to the processingdevice; a sensor coupled to the processing device; and a memory storinginstructions which, when executed by the processing device, cause thehand-held device to perform steps comprising: (a) using a signalreceived from the sensor to determine whether the hand-held portabledevice is positioned proximate to an object surface; (b) when it isdetermined from the signal received from the sensor that the hand-heldportable device is positioned proximate to the object surface causingthe hand-held device to operate a first operational mode in which thehand-held device is configured to use the first wireless transmissiondevice to transmit a first communication representative of an activationof a one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements and whenit is determined from the signal received from the sensor that thehand-held portable device is not positioned proximate to the objectsurface causing the hand-held device to operate in a second operationalmode in which the hand-held device is configured to use the secondwireless transmission device to transmit a second communicationrepresentative of the activation of the one or more of the plurality ofinput receiving elements; and (c) periodically repeating steps (a) and(b).
 2. The hand-held device as recited in claim 1, wherein the firstwireless transmission device comprises a radio frequency transmissiondevice and the second wireless transmission device comprises an infraredtransmission device.
 3. The hand-held device as recited in claim 1,wherein, in the first operational mode, the hand-held device isconfigured to use a first command code set when transmitting the firstcommunication and, in the second operational mode, the hand-held deviceis configured to use a second command code set when transmitting thesecond communication.
 4. The hand-held device as recited in claim 3,wherein the first communication and the second communication areintended to control different functional operations of a common intendedtarget appliance.
 5. The hand-held device as recited in claim 3, whereinthe first wireless transmission device comprises a radio frequencytransmission device and wherein the second wireless transmission devicecomprises an infrared transmission device.
 6. The hand-held device asrecited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of input receiving elementscomprise a plurality of soft input elements caused to be displayed in atouch sensitive surface of the hand-held device that is coupled to theprocessing device.
 7. The hand-held device as recited in claim 6,wherein, in the first operational mode, the hand-held device isconfigured to display a first set of the plurality of soft inputelements in the touch sensitive surface of the hand-held device and, inthe second operational mode, the hand-held device is configured todisplay a second set of the plurality of soft input elements in thetouch sensitive surface of the hand-held device and wherein the firstset of the plurality of soft input elements is different than the secondset of the plurality of input elements.
 8. The hand-held device asrecited in claim 3, wherein the instructions use input received into thehand-held device to select the first command code set and the secondcommand code set from a library of command code sets stored in a memoryof the hand-held device.
 9. The hand-held device as recited in claim 8,wherein the input used to select the first command code set and thesecond command code set is received via activations of one or more ofthe plurality of input receiving elements.
 10. The hand-held device asrecited in claim 3, wherein the first command code set and the secondcommand code set are received into the hand-held device from a devicelocated remotely from the hand-held device.
 11. The hand-held device asrecited in claim 1, wherein the instructions use a distance between thehand-held device and the object surface as sensed by the sensor todetermine when the hand-held device is positioned proximate to theobject surface.
 12. The hand-held device as recited in claim 1, whereinthe sensor comprises an optical sensing system.
 13. The hand-held deviceas recited in claim 1, wherein steps (a) and (b) are repeated at a firstrate when the hand-held device is operating in the first operationalmode and at a second rate, different than the first rate, when thehand-held device is operating in the second operational mode.
 14. Thehand-held device as recited in claim 13, wherein the first rate is lessthan the second rate.